Tone Poem

18 hours ago, gmm said:

Another interesting and thought-provoking piece! You have a very unique harmonic language. Would you mind talking about some of the harmonic devices you used? It sounds like you use some more Modes of Limited Transposition?

So since you don't have typical CPP cadences available, how do you handle cadences? Could you perhaps point to a few examples of how you used cadences? This is the thing I have always struggled with when listening to this kind of music. My ears are searching for some kind of harmonic resolution that never comes (unless the cadence is prepared in some other fashion, using changes in dynamics or orchestration for example), maybe because I'm so used to the typical dominant-tonic relationship. I always have trouble understanding where one phrase ends and another begins.

To give you an example, from the beginning all the way to Rehearsal A, the chords in the lower voices are pretty much entirely carried by the low strings, bassoons, and clarinets, while different voices enter and exit with the melody (the oboe, then the violins, flutes, etc.). Since the overall texture doesn't change much, it's hard for me to tell when phrases begin and end. For example, in m. 13-18: is this three separate phrases, with the flute carrying the melody in 13-14, then the oboe with a new phrase in 15-16, and a third phrase in the flute in 17-18? Or is m. 15-18 one phrase, begun by the oboe and finished by the flute, with the flute in m. 13-14 leading into this phrase? Or is it one long phrase from 13-18 passed between the flute and oboe? Since the overall texture doesn't change, and there are no dominant-tonic resolutions (unless I'm missing them), it's hard for me to tell, and this entire section kind of runs together from a phrasing standpoint, at least to my ears. Is there something I'm not hearing?

The section from Rehearsal B to C, on the other hand, has much clearer phrasing to me, which I think is due to the more varied orchestration throughout this section. After the climax at Rehearsal B, you drop the orchestration down to just a clarinet and bassoon, which prepares me to hear a new phrase starting at m. 37 when the rest of the orchestra comes in. Then at m. 41, the orchestration changes again to a much more sparse texture which tells me the last phrase ended and another one has begun. The contrast also makes it more satisfying when the rest of the orchestra returns in m. 47, indicating the start of another phrase. Overall I had a much easier time feeling where the phrases begin and end through this section than the preceding section. Even though there no harmonic cadences, the cadences occur due to changes in dynamics and orchestration. 

Please don't take any of the above as negative! This is an idiom I haven't written in, so I'm asking this for my educational purposes. Since you're a composer with a well developed language in this style, I'm interested if you have any insights that might help me listen to and understand this music better. 

 

Another thing I was curious about was how you were thinking of the rhythm in the 7/4 time signature - whenever I hear music in odd meters like this, I tend to think some kind of grouping of 2's and 3's. (For example 3-2-2, or 2-2-3, or even 3-4, for 7/4). I interpret the oboe melody at the beginning as a 3-4 in m. 5, then 4-3 in m. 6-8, was this your intent, or something else? 

 

I also thought the ending was a little abrupt, but I think it's because up to this point we haven't heard the Lydian sonority you used starting at Rehearsal J (unless I missed it somewhere) and it contrasts sharply with dissonant harmonies in the rest of the piece. You might try using a similar texture earlier in the piece. That way when the listener hears it at the end it will be familiar, instead of something they haven't heard yet. 

Did you make this in a DAW, or is this Sibelius playback?

 

Thanks for sharing! This is a phenomenal work and I look forward to hearing more.

 

Messaged you. 🙂